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Floridas Ferris Bueller Stuck In Kuwait*

Florida's 'Ferris Bueller' stuck in Kuwait

Teen skipped school to travel alone to Iraq

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Farris Hassan, the Florida teen who traveled
alone to the dangerous city of Baghdad, is still in Kuwait and will be there
until next week, his sister told CNN.

Shanaz Hassan said the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait informed the family Friday
night of the boy's location. It is not known when Farris will leave for the
United States or why is is staying so long in Kuwait.

The 16-year-old prep school student planned to visit Iraq this summer with
his parents, who are Iraqi, but he decided he could not wait.

His mother Shatha Atiya said Farris used his savings to buy a plane ticket.
His parents didn't know about his journey until he told them by e-mail. (Route)

Farris ended up in the Baghdad offices of The Associated Press earlier this
week, to the shock of reporter Patrick Quinn.

"I would have been less surprised if little green men walked into the office,"
Quinn told CNN.

"He actually announced to us that he wanted to join us and become a journalist,
and I was quite stunned by this whole thing," he said.

AP staffers contacted the U.S. Embassy, which sent American soldiers to pick
him up.

Quinn said the teen was "blissfully ignorant of his surroundings and where
he was."

He said, "Farris walked into the most dangerous city on this planet, especially
if you are an unaccompanied American, let alone a teenager who doesn't speak
any Arabic."

The AP reported that Farris was inspired to make the journey to Baghdad after
taking a class on "immersion journalism" at Pine Crest School, a prep academy
of about 700 students in Fort Lauderdale.

In an essay he wrote before his journey, Farris expressed his desire to help
the people of Iraq and said he felt guilty for living in a large house in
South Florida, driving a nice car, and hanging out with friends without the
fear of suicide bombers.

AP reporter Jason Straziuso, who spoke to the teen in Baghdad, said Farris
appeared to be bright and well-studied, with a strong social conscience.
But he added that Farris should have researched his trip to Iraq more thoroughly.

"One of the last things he said to me ... was, 'Now that I've been here,
I realize that if I walk down the wrong street, that I seriously could get
kidnapped,'" Straziuso said.

"So it is one thing to say 'I accept the danger' when you're back home and
you're being idealistic,"he said. "It's another thing to be here and know
that the danger is all around you."

Atiya, Farris' mother, told CNN he had asked her for permission to travel
to Iraq "to see it firsthand." She added, "When he heard my negative response,
he decided to take things in his own hands, I guess."

Atiya said received an e-mail from her son saying, "I'll be in Iraq for awhile"
but he did not say how he planned to cross into the country. At his request,
Atiya said she faxed documents to help him secure a visa, and after researching
the fax number, she learned he was in Kuwait.

His father, Redha Hassan, told The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderale that after
Farris failed to cross into Iraq, he told his son he would arrange for security
to accompany the teen when the border reopened after the December 15
parliamentary elections.

Hassan said if he had demanded his son come home, "it would leave a scar,
disappointing him in his young life," according to the newspaper.

"I learned long ago that if you say no, they stick to the point and insist
on doing it," he said. "Nothing fazed him."

After losing contact with their son, Farris' parents called the U.S. State
Department and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad who searched for the boy before
they were contacted by AP staffers.

Atiya said she plans to keep a close eye on her son once he returns home.

"Once he's back and safe in my arms, then, yes, he's going to be without
privileges as you can imagine," she said.

When Farris returns, his parents' consequences may not be the only ones he
has to face. School officials have asked to have a meeting with both parents
before he is allowed back in school, the AP reported.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann
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